Huge Amount of Money TNA Owes, Another Lawsuit Revealed, More on TNA Troubles

We’ve reported recently that TNA seems to be enduring it’s toughest financial difficulties to date. As previously noted, TNA secured funding for Bound for Glory and the subsequent television tapings with mere hours to spare, and it’s unclear how the company will proceed going forward. We mentioned yesterday that TNA’s recent cash infusion was specifically designated to handle production costs, so the question remains regarding how talent is going to get paid.

In addition to the ongoing financial woes, TNA is also dealing with a lawsuit filed by the company’s own president, Billy Corgan. We’re now learning that things appear to be getting much worse and far more serious as additional lawsuits begin to mount. PWInsider reports TNA’s former production company Audience of One Productions LLC, located in Virginia, is suing TNA, their parent company Impact Ventures LLC, TNA minority-owner Aroluxe LLC, as well as TNA CFO Dean Broadhead and Ronald “Ron” Harris. The suit was filed on September 27th in the U.S District Court, Eastern District of Virginia, and seeks $223,000 plus interest for “breach of contract, fraudulent inducement on the behalf of Harris and Broadhead, torturous interference on behalf of Aroluxe, and for TNA violating Virginia code.”

According to the suit, AO1 was contacted in 2015 about “a possible long-term, multi-event, production services agreement, pursuant to which AOl would provide a variety of production services for live TNA professional wrestling events, including audio/visual and broadcasting work, lighting, set construction and breakdown, as well as retention and payment of audience “wranglers” (personnel who would patrol the crowd and try to engage audience members with the event), among other things.” AO1 was eventually hired to produce Bound for Glory 2015, and billed TNA $223,000. After failing to pay for over a month, Dean Broadhead finally contacted AO1, assuring them that TNA was on the verge of a landmark deal that would put them in more than 80 million homes. He promised that the company would emerge better than it was before, and if AO1 could “hang on,” it could be the beginning of a prosperous relationship.

According to the lawsuit, AO1 sent a second invoice with a 1.5% late penalty added to the original figure, leading Ron Harris to request an itemized invoice. TNA continued to stall on payment. AO1 then deducted $29,001.57 from the original total, because TNA paid several independent contractors so AO1 wouldn’t have to. The lawsuit claims this was done by TNA to ensure those contractors would continue on with the company after they inevitably cut ties with AO1. TNA then scheduled a monthly payment plan that would begin in March 2016 and conclude in August, but never fulfilled the first payment due to another onslaught of financial duress. This is about the time Aroluxe began financing the product. AO1 alleges this “gave Aroluxe and, by extension, the Harris Brothers, two of Aroluxe’s principals, considerable incentive to oversee and coordinate TNA’s financial affairs going forward.” At this point, all communication between the two primary parties ceased. The lawsuit alleges that both Dean Broadhead and Ron Harris were at fault in failing to pay AO1, due to a conflict of interest regarding the financial stability of the company.

On a related note, the Tennessee Department of Revenue filed a tax lien with the Davidson County Register of Deeds on September 8th for unpaid business taxes. Just a few weeks prior to the lien, Toronto’s Anthem Sports and Entertainment filed a statement with the Tennessee Secretary of State, listing TNA as a debtor. As noted before, Anthem is one of several companies to whom TNA owes money, along with Aroluxe and MCC Acquisitions. The total debt owed by TNA to those aforementioned parties is $3.4 million.